All-Male Group: 1st Gen Special Hello! Pro Auditions
All-Male Group: 1st Gen. Special Hello! Pro Auditions is the title of Hello! Project's first ever male group auditions that would eventually become SECRET Otoko's first generation. The auditions started on November 30, 2012 to January 3, 2013. ''Audition Details *Application Requirements:'' *''Male, minimum of 12 years of age and maximum of 21 years of age by December 1, 2012.'' *''Must not be under any contract in any company; past or present.'' *''Must have parents consent if underage.'' '' Application Deadline: December 24, 2012'' '' Total Applicants: 7,000+'' '' Training Camp Choreographer: Yoshiko (Morning Musume's Cheoreographer)'' '' Broadcast On: Hello! SATOYAMA Life'' First Round: The first round of the auditions began on December 3, 2012. The application deadline was December 24, 2012. The contestants could only audition in exclusive locations all throughout Japan, and were required to sing a Japanese pop song and must bring in their paperwork. Except for the auditions in Tokyo, the applicants will be told the same day if they will move on to the second round. *'December 5- Sapporo' *'December 7- Ginowan, Okinawa' *'December 10- Kanagawa' *'December 12- Hiroshima' *'December 15- Fukuoka' *'December 19- Tokyo' Second Round: The second round began on December 26, 2012. The videotape and profile of each auditionee was viewed by Tsunku, of whom arbitrarily selected the ones he wanted to move on to the third round. Third Round: The 20 contestants gathered in Tokyo for further screening. From there, they were hand-selected, and were invited to join the training camp. *'Dance- Freestyle Dance' *'Voice- "Kizuna" (Kazuya Kamenashi)' Fourth Round: The boys were taken to a training camp where they received dance and vocal lessons, seperately recorded "Kizuna", and danced in a group with any type of freestyle dance to represent each of their individual personalities in front of the dance instructor and Tsunku. Nine auditionees were chosen. The Nine Boys Chosen: *'Jun Mizoguchi, 21' *'Kai Kawasaki, 21' *'Yukito Nogami, 18' *'Hikaru Hashimoto, 16' *'Ryuki Takashima, 16' *'Ryusuke Irie, 16' *'Shiro Nishishima, 15' *'Tomoe Tachibana, 14' *'Kazuya Sato, 12' The winner(s) was/ were announced after the recording had aired. Results: Eight boys were chosen to form the first generation of Hello! Project's first ever all-male group: Winners!- Jun Mizoguchi (Leader), Kai Kawasaki (Sub-leader #1), Hikaru Hashimoto (Sub-leader #2), Ryuki Takashima, Yukito Nogami, Ryusuke Irie, Shiro Nishishima, and Tomoe Tachibana. Trivia: *'Kazuya Sato withdrew from the audition because it was found out that he has been diagnosed with anemia and would have to quit the training camp in order to recover. He stated via his official blog that he will try to participate in the group's next auditions when he is fully recovered.' *'Hikaru Hashimoto changed his surname to Hoshimoto for unknown reasons when the group debuted.' *'During the auditions, Tsunku had a hard time telling Ryuki Takashima and Kai Kawasaki apart because of their similar looks and had thoughts about making them into the male version of W.' Category:SECRET Otoko Category:SECRET Otoko Member Category:2012 Auditions Category:Popular Groups Category:Hello! Project Category:1st generation member